


Peace of Mind

by substantial



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Major Spoilers, in the context of bay over bae
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-22
Updated: 2018-04-22
Packaged: 2019-04-26 09:06:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14398812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/substantial/pseuds/substantial
Summary: A month after the storm, Max has a dream, and Chloe shows up. Straight up major ending spoilers.





	Peace of Mind

**Author's Note:**

> we'll just ignore the part where max might not actually remember all of the events of the game post-ending ok? cool

There wasn’t a day that passed where Max didn’t think of her for at least a moment, with feelings of numbness and at times a dull melancholy occupying her heart over everything else. Now knowing all of the consequences that come with fighting reality, she had learned more about acceptance in one week than she had and ever would in the rest of her lifetime.

It was another one of those nights that seemed to drag on longer and longer the more she made an effort to fall asleep. Since returning to Seattle to stay with her parents for a while after Chloe’s funeral, her emotional range has been somewhat erratic. Being alone with her thoughts in the dark wasn’t helping the whole “peace of mind” attitude she had been trying to maintain since that week. The storm had become a regular part of her dreams, and her nightmares for the last month. It was the look in Chloe’s eyes as she realised what needed to be done, the destruction of the town below, Chloe’s hands on Max’s shoulders as time somehow slowed down to a halt and raced faster all at the same time, the images of the families and animals being swept through the streets of Arcadia Bay, Chloe’s lips— 

Max rolled over in her bed and stretched an arm out to feel for her phone in the dark. She glanced at the far-too-bright screen; it was 2am. “This is no good,” she thought. She got up and quietly opened her door so as to not disturb her parents’ sleep, and made her way downstairs.

She fetched a glass of warm milk from the kitchen, walked into the living room, and shut the door behind her before sitting down and scrolling on her phone to pass the time.

Twenty minutes of forum browsing and half a cup of milk later, Max walked to the door to head back up to her room and try the whole “sleeping” thing again. She heard a click from the other side of the door just as she was placing her hand on the handle, and it swung open faster than she could process. Before she knew it, she saw black.

 

The darkness finally cleared up into a bright white, which then settled down into a strange mixture of colours that Max couldn’t quite make out, not helped by the fact that her head was spinning in confusion. As the mess of colours separated itself into more distinct shapes, she started to recognise certain elements of where she was. The posters, the hoards of useless childhood objects. Quite notably, the smell of various inadvisable substances. And she saw a tuft of blue hair creeping into the left side of her vision.

“What up, timelord?” The familiar voice made Max quickly turn to face its owner.

“Chloe?”

The blue-haired girl gave a small laugh. “Forgetting me already?”

“But— no? No, I didn’t forget anything. Chloe, I—”

“I’m just fucking with you, Max. Damn, I missed bugging you.”

Chloe was sitting on the edge of her bed, opposite Max, who stood motionless at the sight of her best friend. She felt the spinning feeling in her head come to a slow halt, as most of her senses returned.

“You’re not real,” said Max, in a downcast and barely audible voice.

“Well, no shit, my friend. But I’m here. To soothe your conscience or something, I guess.”

Max slowly sat herself down on an old chest, and she knew it had to be filled with a bunch of useless toys from when they were kids. Her own silence was frustrating her. As much as she was aware of her surroundings, it felt too real. She had so much that she wanted to say to Chloe, but couldn’t get any of the words out. It was a feeling that she had been growing used to towards the end of that last week. Too real.

“Hey, Earth to Mad Max. I love you, you know. How about that?”

Max looked up, and stared at her. And still, for some reason, she couldn’t respond.

“I mean, even though you killed me, right?” Chloe’s voice was getting quieter. “I get it, you had to do it, it’s whatever. I did tell you to. Hey, I’m angry at you, and I love you, it’s kind of our thing.” Her voice was breaking just a little, but she was still smiling softly at Max.

“Chloe,” Max whispered, tears beginning to form, as she tried to get a response out, but found her speech to be stifled.

“You don’t need to say anything, you know. I think you kinda already showed me how you feel. You’re a pretty good kisser, by the way.” Chloe smirked, watching to see Max’s reaction.

On Max’s end, it felt like she could barely distinguish one emotion from another. All of the images of that day, the feelings that she had pushed back for the past month, and the thoughts in her head worked to overwhelm her ability to think or speak coherently. But she was listening.

“Okay,” Chloe said, clapping her hands together. “You stay quiet, and I’ll talk. For real, I don’t really know what you need to hear. You always were better at the whole cheer-up thing than me,” she smiled. Chloe took a breath, and continued to speak.

“I mean, I’d tell you that everything’s gonna be okay, but I’m not sure I’m really in a good position to convince you of that, if you get what I’m saying. This is all, just, fucking hard, Max. It sucks, and you feel gross, and guilty, and alone — the whole package, right? We don’t have much time, so all I can do is remind you of what I already know. That I love you, Max. Like, I hella fucking do. And I wasn’t sure until that insane week, but I’m so glad that I got to find out for sure that you feel the same. If the universe wasn’t so shitty, then who knows what would’ve happened with us. But I’m happy enough knowing that aside from everything that happened, we love each other. And we always will. No matter what. Okay, Super Max?”

Max felt her vision shifting again. She couldn’t entirely make out what was happening, but she could see Chloe’s silhouette walking towards her, her arm reaching for her shoulder. Her sight was now completely covered by the figure leaning over her.

“Max? You okay, Max?” 

“Chloe?” Max mumbled.

As her vision became clearer, she saw the figure looking down on her in concern. As a startled Max came to, she realised that she was lying on a couch.

“No, uh, not Chloe,” a voice said, and Max could hear the frown of the person who said it. She recognised her mother’s voice as she stirred. “I’m sorry. Are you okay? You hit your head. I mean, I hit your head. With the door. Not on purpose, though. I didn’t know anyone was downstairs. I, uh, put you on the couch, if you’re wondering.” 

“Oh. Oh, okay,” Max said, still slightly groggy, and becoming more aware of the dull ache in her skull.

A few seconds of silence, then her mother gave a sigh. “Oh, I’m so sorry, dear. Are you feeling okay?”

“Well, uh, I’m feeling a gnarly headache coming on, but I’m fine.” She paused. “To be honest, I wasn’t sleeping well. I needed the knockout. Man, was I out for a long time?”

“Only two minutes or so. But I was getting really worried just now. You were mumbling a little, though, so I thought you were coming to.”

“Two minutes, really? It felt so much longer. I was mumbling? I mean, I had the weirdest dream.” Max stared off to the side for a few seconds, starting to recall each detail, whilst clutching her aching head. “Weird in a good way, though. I think. I’m fine, Mom. I, uh, I’m probably drained enough to fall asleep quickly now.”

“You sure? Should I get you some aspirin for that headache? God, I feel like such an idiot.”

“No, don’t. Really. I’m fine. I feel pretty good, actually. Relaxed, at least. For now. I think?” Max looked at her mother and gave a weak smile, before hissing at the increasing head pain. “But I’ll still have some of that aspirin, please.”


End file.
